Scoop

Roast of the Town
MTV's Carson Daly gets a night of torment—with love—from his celeb friends

Among the reasons Total Request Live interviewer Carson Daly felt the heat June 28: former girlfriends Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jaime Pressly and, standing in for Tara Reid, a Tara Reid impersonator in a wedding dress holding a champagne flute. All gathered in L.A. to tweak Daly for the MTV Bash celebrity roast. (The show airs July 13.) Even some who didn't date Daly, 30, took a moment to fan the coals. Madonna, in a video, went through a box of photographs of Daly's supposed romantic conquests. "You are way too old for her," she said, holding a picture of Demi Moore, before pointing to herself and joking, "Guilty as charged, but the lights were out and I thought you were Ashton Kutcher." Even Britney Spears got into the act: "He's a man who goes out of his way to help the less fortunate, especially young, attractive women." Love Hewitt asked, "Hi, Carson, remember me? Girlfriend 147?" So what kind of woman is right for Daly? Says his mom, Pattie: "A schoolteacher from Des Moines."

LOVE ALL
At Wimbledon this year, love is far more than a fixture on the scoreboard. Among the newest mixed doubles: Minnie Driver, who strolled hand in hand with Robby Ginepri, an American tennis player 13 years her junior. (Hello, Demi!) "They went out," says his rep. "She came to watch his tennis...they became friends." Ginepri, 20, caused what passes for a stir at the tournament when he competed in a sleeveless shirt—a Wimbledon first. Meanwhile Matthew Perry, Driver's costar in a West End production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago, had two special women at the tournament—his girlfriend, fashion student Rachel Dunn, who joined him in the stands, and pal Jennifer Capriati, 27, the object of Perry's vocal encouragement as she played center court.

Briefly on the scene: pop singer-actress Mandy Moore, 19, and her guy, tour hottie Andy Roddick, 20. Filming commitments in Prague kept Moore away from most of the matches, but she did send moral support: her mom, Stacy, who became a regular and vocal Roddick rooter.

Ethan Wants You to Be a Producer
Want to produce a Hollywood film starring Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Gattaca, Reality Bites)? For $8.75, you can. According to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Civilian Capital Inc. of Chicago, that's the cost of each one of 900,000 shares of stock that the company hopes to sell in order to raise $7.9 million to finance the murder mystery Billy Dead. The movie—with Hawke, 32, as executive producer and likely lead—would be the first to be financed via a public offering of stock. The prospectus notes that the film, which portrays a troubled working-class Michigan family, has several risk factors—including ratings, competition and the possibility of increased expenses.

Angels Fear to Tread
Despite all their boastful, high-kicking antics, it turns out Charlie's Angels are really just a trio of softies. A half hour before Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz were scheduled to arrive at the Normandie theater on the Champs-Elysées June 30 for the film's Paris premiere, up to 300 French theater and film extras—in the second day of a strike—pushed through the crowd of waiting fans and shouted, "Close it down." The demonstrators proceeded to climb the barricades meant to keep crowds from the red carpet and, after clashing with police, staged a sit-down protest, chanting slogans and hooting at celebrities (including Keanu Reeves), running the reasserted police gauntlet. For their part, the three Angels arrived 30 minutes late and snuck into the theater through a side entrance, avoiding any physical confrontation.

Cleared Idol
Former American Idol contestant Corey Clark has reason to sing again. A Topeka, Kans., court dismissed charges accusing the 23-year-old crooner of hitting his sister and resisting arrest last fall. The June 19 judgment comes three months after Idol producers learned about the incident and gave Clark the boot. "They basically kicked me off the show for nothing," says Clark, who maintained his innocence throughout—but admitted he failed to disclose his arrest during the Idol screening process. But no hard feelings. "American Idol gave me exactly what I needed," says Clark. "A little exposure and controversy." Although producers left the door slightly open for Clark to return for the show's concert tour, it's not happening. A rep for Idol says the reason is that after his dismissal, he simply wasn't part of the show.

Di Another Day
Princess Diana, superhero? She's "back from the dead and on her comeback tour," as touted for the September edition of Marvel Comics' X-Statix comic book, an X-Men spinoff. The storyline, in which she is rescued from a crew of mutant Eurotrash, will unfold over five issues. Di loyalists are not amused. "This is utterly appalling," a Buckingham Palace source told Britain's Daily Mail. "It appears to be a cheap attempt to cash in on Diana's fame and the tragic circumstances surrounding her death."

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has returned to MTV for a second season of Making of the Band, helping create what he hopes will be a successful hip-hop group. Between his TV duties, producing the soundtrack for Bad Boys II, managing a small fashion empire and just plain hanging with friends like Ashton Kutcher, Combs, 33, spared a few minutes for Scoop.

You started as an intern. Do you know the names of your summer interns?

I know the ones that are shinin'. The ones that are making some noise.

ON THE BLOCK

MAURICE GIBB'S MANSION
Bee Gee Maurice Gibb, who died last January at the age of 53, left behind this Surrey, England, mansion. It's on the market for $6.7 million and includes a heart-shaped pool bearing the astrological signs of the singer and his wife, Yvonne. The four-acre estate also includes a full recording studio, two guest houses and a koi pond that once served as a roller rink. Gibb's family will remain in Florida, where they have another home.